Does this sentence "This was the long way, which had to be gone by us" make sense and is grammatically correct?

Question

This was the long way, which had to be gone by us.

There seems to be a great confusion of whether this sentence is correct or not as even native speakers are divided on whether to treat "go" as intransitive or transitive regarding this usage.

I really don't prefer to think of "go" as transitive when it's taking its direct object such as "the long way" or "the long distance", but other than "go", "walk, run, and travel" seem to sound natural taking its direct object such as "the long way" or "the long distance".

So, do you think that sentence makes sense and is grammatically correct?

Answer 1

Idioms: to have a long way to go, to go the long way [round something, through something, etc.].

SHORT STORY
There was a long way to go before getting to the town. And this was the long way, which had to be gone by us. Because we were determined not to be seen by anybody. END

It is grammatical. However, if it were my writing, I would use:

And this was the long way, which we had to go.

The best grammaticality test is generating other utterances with similar patterns as the one in the same question.

• There was the main point, which had to be made by us.

to make the main point

• There was the shortest distance, which had to be traveled by us.

to travel the shortest distance

In conclusion, one can make passives like this. It's pretty clear.

Answer 2

Short answer: It (eventually) makes sense, and it's probably grammatically correct.

Long answer: It's a terrible sentence that requires multiple readings to comprehend. As you have been told, this passive form of "go", to mean "travel", is rarely (if ever) used. Example:

We went the long way.

is standard, but:

The long way was gone by us.

is weird. The passive "gone" is easily confused with the past participle "gone", as in "missing" or "nonexistent":

All the chocolate is gone! Who took it?

When you say, "the long way was gone," it sounds like someone stole off with it. Alternately, in your example, "had to be gone," suggests the speaker believes the road is missing for some reason. If either is not your intention, you're better off using a different verb that has no ambiguity:

This was the long way, which had to be followed by us (e.g. to avoid the eponymous dangers of the shorter route though Bandit Forest)

There are many other verbs that would work as well: walked, run, traveled, navigated, journeyed, etc.

(Edit) Again, this use of "gone" is grammatical but not recommended. Except, as Lambie says, with creative writing -- but if you are fluent enough in English to write good stories, you really don't need me to tell you that it's a deliberate verbal idiosyncrasy that should be used consistently throughout the narrative.